The 49ers saw great potential in Colin Kaepernick where others didn't, and he continues a glorious tradition of quarterback "rescues" in San Francisco.

Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle

The 49ers saw great potential in Colin Kaepernick where others...

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Scouts who didn't like Colin Kaepernick's throwing motion and who attributed his college stats to a gimmicky system get to watch him start in the Super Bowl.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Scouts who didn't like Colin Kaepernick's throwing motion and who...

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San Francisco 49ers Joe Montana passes against the Denver Broncos in the 3rd quarter of the Super Bowl XXIV played in the Louisiana Superdome Jan 28, 1990

Photo: Max Duncan

San Francisco 49ers Joe Montana passes against the Denver Broncos...

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Young came to the 49ers looking like a long-shot project. He was the Tim Tebow of his time. Walsh and the 49ers got Young for draft picks, a two and a four. He didn't become a regular starter for the 49ers until age 29.

Photo: George Rose, ST

Young came to the 49ers looking like a long-shot project. He was...

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Jeff Garcia was exiled to the Canadian Football League for five seasons before Walsh rescued him.

Jeff Garcia was exiled to the Canadian Football League for five...

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Alex Smith would have been lucky to land a backup job with another NFL team. He was considered a dog. By his second season under Harbaugh, Smith was a genuine elite quarterback.

Shopping for a quarterback is like shopping for a dog. There are two basic strategies:

Plan A is the high-falutin' route, preferred by NFL teams and snobby dog folks. For a dog, you go to a breeder or pet store and buy a brand-new designer pooch with "papers." For a quarterback, you draft a college hotshot (Andrew Luck) with a blue-blood pedigree, or sign a superstar free agent, a Peyton Manning.

Plan B: For a dog, you hit the local shelter and rescue a mutt, hoping his lovable charms were overlooked by his previous owner, and praying you can turn this mongrel into a lovable newspaper-fetcher. For a quarterback, you find one who is unwanted and unloved, and you make him a superstar.

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Media: San Francisco Chronicle

The 49ers have had phenomenal success over the years with Plan B, and now they might have found another prize-winning mutt in Colin Kaepernick.

He just might be the next in this lineage: Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jeff Garcia and Alex Smith. All four were unloved mongrels (Smith, after his shaky first five seasons) until they were rescued by the 49ers. All four didn't fit the mold, didn't look and play like normal quarterbacks.

Submitted: No other NFL franchise has done more with washed-up quarterbacks than the 49ers.

-- Montana had some spectacular games at Notre Dame, but NFL scouts were not impressed. At one combine, Montana rated 6 1/2 overall (on a scale of 1 to 9), and a 6 for arm strength.

And he was small. Teams were looking for bigger passers.

The 49ers drafted Montana 82nd overall in 1979, the fourth quarterback picked. Where other teams saw a frail kid with a weak arm, Bill Walsh saw a toreador with instincts, nerve and creativity.

-- Young. Boy, did his stock collapse after his two rocky seasons in the USFL, and after he floundered with Tampa Bay, with which he was 3-16 as a starter and threw 11 touchdown passes and 21 interceptions.

Young came to the 49ers looking like a long-shot project. He was the Tim Tebow of his time. Walsh and the 49ers got Young for draft picks, a two and a four. He didn't become a regular starter for the 49ers until age 29.

-- Garcia. He was no Hall of Famer, but Garcia quarterbacked the 49ers into the playoffs twice, was a three-time Pro Bowler, and broke many Montana and Young records.

He was a true mutt, undrafted out of college, too short (6-foot-1) and simply not impressive. Garcia was exiled to the Canadian Football League for five seasons before Walsh rescued him. Like Young, Garcia didn't start for the 49ers until he was 29.

-- Smith was a No. 1 draft pick, of course, but by the time Jim Harbaugh was hired, Smith was a proven failure. He would have been lucky to land a backup job with another NFL team. He was considered a dog. By his second season under Harbaugh, Smith was a genuine elite quarterback.

-- Kaepernick.

The Turlock Tornado fits the 49ers' mutt mold perfectly.

Scouts saw him as a big-windup guy, too skinny-legged, ran too much, and his glittery stats were chalked up to a gimmicky offensive system that would handicap Kaepernick when he tried to transition to big-boy, NFL-style ball.

The 49ers got him in the second round, but Harbaugh, like Walsh before him, had a feeling, and was eager to jump in rather than play it cute and lose his man.

All five of the 49ers' mongrels easily could have ended up as NFL washouts, answers to trivia questions. A quarterback, more than any other player in any sport, is subject to the vagaries of his situation. Tom Brady, if not for his big break, could have knocked around the NFL for a few years as a backup and then drifted into obscurity.

But for a mutt to triumph, once given the opportunity, he must deliver.

All five of our guys here did the carpe diem thing, seized the moment. All of them (so far) functioned best under pressure.

Montana's career passer rating was 92.3, and in four Super Bowls, it was a cumulative 127.8.

Kaepernick, when it comes to facing pressure, has A-plus marks. Thrust into the starting lineup for the first time on a "Monday Night Football" game against a defensive-demon Chicago Bears team, Kaepernick was brilliant. In the playoffs, he has been ice.

Even if other teams study the 49ers' model, no team is going to start purposely selecting quarterbacks based on their apparent lack of skill and credentials. Even the 49ers won't consciously go that route, as we saw when Harbaugh kicked Peyton Manning's tires last offseason.